I need this so much. I have big goals, always, for my grocery budget, but then I always wind up going over. I have a few things that really push me over, but they wind up being time savers. For example, Lunchables. DS12 will eat PBJ, but I sometimes run out of time to make it. DS10 doesn't eat sandwiches and I have a hard time filling his lunchbox, so I default to Lunchables. However, if I'm buying each of them one a day, each week, and they are about $2 each, that's $10 a week. Not a ton, but it adds up.

I also know, however, that I need to recognize the fact that I have three growing boys and a busy teenage girl in the house, so we are going to need a full pantry, so I shouldn't beat myself up too much. But, I do.

I think meal planning will help and being accountable here should help, as well.

I need this too. I'm going to start out the new year by doing a complete pantry/freezer inventory. I haven't done one in ages! I have a lot of food in the house that is just hiding in the depths of the freezer or cupboards. If I cook from my pantry I should be able to save some money.

I'm hoping to cut my grocery bill from $6400 CAD (this year) for three people, down to $4800. That's $400/mth. I'm on a special diet here - gluten free. That costs money. But also I'm giving up on being dairy and sugar free. They are just too hard to do. I'll try to keep it low sugar and low fat, but I'm not promising myself anything. I am carefully counting carbs and trying to increase green leafy vegetables. In fact, vegetables in general. We'll see how the grocery budget responds to all that.

My goal is going to be $200 per week. While I think $250 is more realistic, I want to really challenge myself in this area because I think I have gotten lazy here, and it's a place in my budget I can make a difference. There are some bills that I can't change. This one, I can.

My $200 a week includes all items...food, cleaning, paper products, cleaning products, etc. One of the ways that I plan to achieve this goal is by making sure that I make the drive to Aldi for initial shopping before hitting ShopRite. Whatever I can get cheaper off of my list at Aldi, I'll get there, and then I'll complete my list at ShopRite. I also plan to be vigilant about the sale flyers and my digital shopping apps (which were the focus of my blog today in the hopes that I might get some people using my referral codes ).

I need to also make sure that I start by seeing what we actually have in the fridge and pantry. Some weeks I'll come home with 10 apples, because my family loves apples, but then when I go to put them away, I'll see that we still have 5 from the week before that I didn't know about because I don't eat apples.

Someone who works for DH bought him an Amazon Echo Dot and I will say that "Alexa" has been very helpful in the creation of the grocery list, this week, because when the kids use the last of something, they ask Alexa to add it to the list. VERY helpful because it should cut down on middle of the week shopping trips.

...and I should add, when I say $200 per week, I plan to have an average of $200 per week. As there are four weeks in January, that is $800 for the month. So, if I am over one week, I need to be under the next.

Thanks for reminding me Amy. Supplies like TP, shampoo, soap, etc. comes from the grocery budget here, but gets recorded in the Household budget. I need to talk to DH about that. Because if he's allowed a budget category for it then he must have allotted some money to that category.

I think I've been a bit lazy with the grocery budget too. I've been better since DH retired. Plus having a cleaner come from grocery money (I know, it shouldn't) has really forced me to cut back on purchasing prepared foods. My thing is I just haven't been using what I have in the house. Time to get serious about that.

Can I add that your goal is very good?! We're at that amount and are in Michigan not NJ. It IS a challenge. When I go over one week, our dinners tend to show it the following weeks. LOL But I try very hard to mix things up, so some days are lighter than others. My older kids do go through frugal food fatigue, though. When that happens, Zach has the option of buying his own dinner because he works now and he sometimes will get something for himself and Ally which is very nice of him. I'd say that happens about once every other week where he just feels like grabbing Chinese or B-Dubs. Once a week, he does Taco Tuesday with friends, too. He's been doing that for 3 years now with friends.

It sounds kind of bad, maybe, but if they don't want what we're having, the older kids can make a sandwich, salad, cereal, soup, cottage cheese, cheese and crackers, etc. Another example, I always have potatoes, canned chili, cheese, and sour cream, so they can have a loaded baked potato, too. Aldi also has small TV dinners for only $.89. I pick up 3 per week for Ally. This isn't really a dinner option because they're pretty small portion-wise, but it does help when she's looking for something. Or they fend for themselves out to eat if they want. Neither one of them is motivated to buy their own food LOL, so it usually ends up they don't very often. But when they do, that gives wiggle room for my grocery budget.

I was very excited to find milk only $1.09 and eggs $.47 at Aldi the other day. I get a little too excited over these deals. LOL I get serious sticker shock when going into the big grocery stores now. It can be a bit of a pain when we have to hit multiple stores for deals, but it is so worth it. I have it fairly streamlined now, but I never completely finished my pricebook, but have most of it done.

I do the exact same thing with the bagged fruit. (Apples and clementines) I buy a bag a week, sometimes two. Some weeks, they are gone in a flash and other weeks, I will find 3 left in the bag and forget.

We go through a ton of yogurt and cereal here, too. Again, thankfully it's very inexpensive at Aldi.

I know I could cut back a bit more. But I'm pretty darn close to being as efficient as possible. My goal is adding new recipes to combat the food fatigue the older kids get and I get honestly tired/bored and feel almost robotic at times making the same dang things.

oops forgot to add that we have a cat and a dog and I do not include their needs in the food budget, but I do include shampoo, soap, laundry soap, paper goods, whatnot. And I cringe whenever we need these staples. LOL

I have tried lower priced dishwashing soap. oh my gosh. I tried super cheap (off brand), mid-range cheap (Ajax) and brand named. I buy Ajax because it's cheap, but Gabe grabbed Palmolive last week and I was like wow, this is SO much better and I died a little inside. LMAO

Okay...I did the grocery shop for the week today, and I've already broken one of my rules. However, Aldi wasn't open today and I really wanted to get the shopping done today so I can relax tomorrow.

I still feel like I did pretty well, especially considering the amount of things I bought, the fact that we were completely out of some items, and the fact that I bought some cleaning supplies and restocked the toilet paper and paper towels. I probably could have done better on my fruit at Aldi, but next week.

I do think I will do next week's shopping on Saturday because there were some awesome deals this week on some things that we buy regularly. And...I didn't buy Lunchables!

I won't post my entire list every week, but posting this week gives you a pretty good idea of what we eat and pack for lunches, etc. Just a reminder...I only need to cook dinner once or twice this week because we are eating at my parents one night and we have a fridge full of leftovers. So, please don't think I'm letting my kids eat Little Bites for dinner.

@AmyBoz This is a great list. You got some good deals, too! I should post mine when I do a typical week and this upcoming week will not be. I usually do two separate shopping trips versus one in 7 days. It's because if I bought it all at once, it would be consumed faster. So I buy a few more items toward the end of the week. So one day a week, we shop at two stores. Then the second time, we only go to one store to fill in with a few things. There are times that we will go even an additional time if the kids want something special over the weekend like lemon bread or we run out of bagels.

Something that I haven't done lately is weigh bagged potatoes. It's easy at Save A Lot because the scale is right next to them. We don't always buy them there, but I'll have to remember to weigh them there when we do. I do weigh bagged apples sometimes.

I like to see lists periodically Amy, because it helps me see how prices vary between locations and allows me to be more realistic.

I haven't done a big grocery shop yet this year. Just a run yesterday for lettuce, carrots, and bananas. The lettuce froze on the way home. I told DH it would. But he insisted we needed it and it wouldn't freeze by the time we walked home. It did. A wasted $2.25. The bananas seemed to be okay though. Bananas, carrots, and lettuce cost $6.50 yesterday.

Today DH is off to buy canned tuna and canned tomatoes on his walk. I'm making Tuna Casserole for supper.

Well I salvaged the huge head of romaine lettuce today, but only got enough lettuce for one salad. I had hoped to get enough for two. Oh well.

DH picked up some canned diced tomatoes and canned tuna today for $4.50. I'm going to have to be careful we aren't nickel and diming ourselves to death walking to the more expensive local store rather than taking the car to Superstore.

The big purchases today were household items - replacement Brita filters, dishwasher tabs, and Swiffer wet mop heads (because my cleaner insists the brand name is better than the Frank's brand in this case). They account for ~$43.00 of the above costs.

I actually debited the $21.97 from our account. It was for household stuff and DH said, yes, he'd put aside $100/mth. in the account for "household supplies". He didn't debit the Brita filters though, because he bought ketchup with them and that doesn't come from our account. It comes from the grocery envelope.

I think we may have to rethink things here. It's a crap shoot what does and doesn't come from the grocery budget.

I started to feel a little human again around 11 and at the same time, got a call from the high school that DD was sick and needed to be picked up. So, since I was actually leaving the house, I figured I'd make it trip and we hit Aldi and Shop Rite for next week's shopping. Now I don't have to worry about doing the shopping over the weekend. I'm feeling really good about it because my totals bring me to much less than $200 for the week, which will help balance out my average for the week. Please bear with my listing everything again. Last week's list was actually very helpful to me in planning my list for this week with regards to pricing.

Aldi:4 frozen pizzas - $2.29 each (Last week, I spent $5.50 per pizza at ShopRite...I bought four because I can get 2 for less than I paid for one last week)1 10-pk pancake on a stick - $4.99 (impulse buy...DD reminded me that she LOVES those for breakfast and I'm always telling her she needs to eat breakfast...I caved)1 loaf bread $1.39 (I pay more at ShopRite)1 box mini-muffins - $1.99 (These are equivalent to Entenmann's Little Bites which usually cost $4.54 at ShopRite...I wanted to see if the kids liked them as much, because if so, that's going to be a huge savings if I get these at Aldi each week)6 Granny Smith apples - $.49 each (I thought it was $.49/lb...I am just now realizing it wasn't)1 box generic Nutri Grain bars - $1.49 (less than what I spend at ShopRite)1 bunch bananas - $.44/lb (great price compared to ShopRite)4 cans chicken and dumplings- $1.99 each (forgot about how much the family liked this!)4 cans beef stew - $1.99 each (forgot about how much the family liked this!)

Aldi total: $38.27

ShopRite:2 6 packs Poland Spring seltzer (DH brings this to work instead of soda...he hates plain water) - normally $2.99 each; on sale $2.00 each1 6 pack Propel (DD brings this with her lunch every day) - normally $4.39; on sale $3.391 40 oz Persil laundry detergent - normally $5.99; on sale and with a coupon...$.99!!! So great!!!4 boxes Special K - normally $3.69; on sale and with a coupon $1.632 boxes Honey Nut Cheerios - normally $3.99; on sale and with a coupon $1.82 each4 boxes Nature Valley Granola bars - normally $3.89; on sale and with a coupon $1.32 each!!! (Yes...I bought 6 boxes last week, but this is something I buy every week at $3.89 and now I paid almost half that and don't have to buy them again for a few weeks)1 multipack Skinny Pop - $4.99 (again, DD eats these for lunch each day and when they have them, I buy it because some weeks they don't)2 bags ShopRite pretzels - $1.89 each2 boxes Special K pastry crisps - normally $3.49 each; on sale and with a coupon $2.24 each (DD eats these for breakfast when she wakes up late)1 package Martin's potato rolls - $3.694 boxes Entenmann's Little Bites - normally $4.69 each; on sale for $1.50 each (I bought 4 because they are ridiculously cheap this week and if they don't like the Aldi ones, we are covered)2 lbs 93% lean ground beef - $9.96 total1 family pack chicken tenderloins - $9.875 granny smith apples - $4.40 (Aldi only had 5 and I buy 10 per week and had a coupon for them to be $.99/lb here)4.75 lbs green grapes - $14.20 (wow...but I guarantee every one of those grapes are gone in five days)1 cored pineapple - $2.993 pillsbury grands biscuits - normally $2.59 each; on sale $1.66 each1 4 pack Dannon Oikos yogurt - normally $3.89; on sale $3.33 (bought the wrong kind. )3 gallons ShopRite organic milk - $5.99 each1/4 lb beef bologna - $1.91

Total Before Sales and Coupons: $165.28Total After Sales and Coupons: $114.53

I love seeing your list. Are your coupons apps? Or paper? If apps, I've got to try harder in the apps department. You did awesome! That laundry soap! Wow!

Chuckling at the pancakes on a stick. Ally loves those, too! LOL I haven't bought them in a while, but I should to surprise her.

I might have already mentioned this, but at Aldi they have the penguin crackers instead of the Goldfish crackers (well they have Goldfish crackers, too,). They aren't the same puffiness or texture (they're thinner), but oh my gosh, my kids all were laughing when I bought them. They just thought it was the funniest thing ever.

My father-in-law brought over the Aldi Savoritz, which is like their Cheez-Its and my kids went bananas. They loved them, and when we run out, I will definitely get some more. We will try the penguin crackers next time the kids ask for Goldfish!

Yeah, I can't tell you how excited I was about the laundry detergent. It's the little things, I guess!

Just realized I didn't answer your question about the coupons. They are a mix of coupons.com coupons and newspaper insert coupons that my father-in-law brings me each week. The $3 off coupon on the laundry detergent was a check out coupon that was spit out last time I shopped.

That's awesome. It's been so many years since I've used paper coupons. I really loved coupons when I lived in NY but when we moved here, I was sad to see nowhere that doubled coupons and our Sunday paper doesn't have a large coupon insert at all. So it's kind of like the paper cost more than the coupons I could get and use. But coupons.com I could definitely still do. I loved coupons so much that FV was originally more of a coupon trading website.